Magnum Foundation Grantees Shortlisted for Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards
Photo by Daniel Salemi / Aperture
Congratulations to Magnum Foundation grantees and friends Newsha Tavakolian, Miranda Barnes, Bieke Depoorter, and Sohrab Hura, for making the Paris Photo-Aperture 2026 PhotoBook Awards shortlist!
The shortlisted books will be exhibited at Paris Photo, open to the public from November 11 through November 15, followed by an international tour, including in Dublin at PhotoIreland, December 2026, and other venues to be announced.
See more about the books below.
Photo by Daniel Salemi / Aperture
Miranda Barnes
Social Season
Important Flowers, London
Design by Anamaria Morris
Shortlisted for “First PhotoBook” category.
Miranda Barnes’s debut book explores the rich history of Black cotillions in the US through an immersive collection of photographs made at debutante balls in Detroit between 2022 and 2025. This poignant and elegant body of work documents the community, camaraderie, and anticipation of this custom and the moment of transition it hinges upon.
Photo by Daniel Salemi / Aperture
Bieke Depoorter
The Beds I Slept In
Hannibal Books, Antwerp, Belgium
Design by Armand Mevis and Bieke Depoorter
Shortlisted for “PhotoBook of the Year."
In this intimate book, Bieke Depoorter looks back on years of overnight stays with complete strangers. Each bed symbolizes a fragile balance between trust, safety and the unknown.
Photo by Daniel Salemi / Aperture
Newsha Tavakolian
And They Laughed at Me
Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany
Design by Kehrer Design, Laura Pecoroni
Shortlisted for “PhotoBook of the Year."
For And They Laughed at Me, Newsha Tavakolian trawled through her archives not to pick her best work, but instead to dig up what she refers to as her “eyesore” photos from the early days of her career, when, at the age of sixteen, she had started to work as a photojournalist in Tehran. Revisiting these “eyesore” images against the backdrop of again terrible events, what emerges is a clear rite of passage from the hope and dreams of youth, towards the disappointment of reality and the conclusion that there is only one real choice in life. To be drawn to darkness, or to choose to fight the darkness and go towards the light.
Photo by Daniel Salemi / Aperture
Sohrab Hura
Snow
MACK, London
Design by Sohrab Hura
Shortlisted for “PhotoBook of the Year."
Sohrab Hura’s Snow documents his repeated visits to the Indian-administered region of Kashmir over a five-year period, recording its passage through the three distinct phases of its winter. Across photographs of Kashmir’s landscapes and communities, picturesque imagery often gives way to residual markers of conflict and violence.